Have you ever wondered why speaker manufactures do not consign speakers to dealers?

Elizabeth, 90-day on paper terms are extremely rare even for demo gear, but they do exist and sometimes more.You are correct otherwise. And distributors do not get a big chunk. They get a relatively small piece--they only provide a service including sometimes warehousing and shipping.

If the retailer makes more than the manufacturer then that is truly upside down. 

Retailers make the money, not manufacturers - especially big box stores. I work for a manufacturing company. We once petitioned Home Depot for a $1 price increase due to proven legitimate raw goods increases (steel, corrugated, EPS). Home Depot raised the price in their stores $15 as a result. That was on a $114 item - became $129. Took us 3 months of negotiation to break even, while THD increased profit by $14 each.

Also consider the dealers dilemma.Besides knowing that even the best customers will shop price as well as selection, he is competing in both the real and virtual sales world.He accepts this and keeps the store open. So maybe he selects three speaker brands four at the most. He does not have unlimited room and the room he has can properly place maybe 2 pair of speakers properly.Faced with three brands he would like to display three models in each line to hit popular price points. Also as an attraction and possible sale 1-2 pair of top line models. Right you are if you are spending 5k-20k or more on a pair you would like to hear them.The dealer demos from stock. If he can place say 2 pair of 15k-20k he is looking at a bit of a money in demo. When the year ends those demos no longer bring the same retail and often are sold at deep discount. This l is tough for the small or moderate location. You may think there is big profit but remember all the hours those sales guys are sitting waiting for you to come in, they get paid and the lights stay on. Store owners accept all this.There is no good solution. I have been there on both sides. Customer comes in you judge him a sale not a looker. Make an appointment and you set up his requested speakers best you can. He listens and goes away. You repack 20k-30k of goods and chalk it up to you did your best. When I was in the sales side we tried to resolve some of this by offering in home demo. With the condition that if the customer did not like it he would not get a refund but credit. This qualified the customer as real and they got what sounded best to them. A compromise for sure.